Juliette Caton Movies
- 1991
Season of Giants succeeds more in ambition than in execution. This 195-minute TV movie proposes that a great professional rivalry existed between Renaissance geniuses Michelangelo (Mark Frankel) and Leonardo da Vinci (John Glover). While the Florentine and Roman scenery is authentic, certain elements of the story cause the viewer to doubt its credibility. For starters, both Michelangelo and Da Vinci weather several years' time without either aging or changing their clothes; also, the "creative process" is minimized, with both artists going from inspiration to final product in what seems to be a matter of hours (maybe Michelangelo used a roller on the Sistine Chapel). Season of Giants was originally shown in two parts over the TNT Cable service, with a surprising paucity of advertising fanfare. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on the novel by Ellis Peters, "One Corpse Too Many" was the first of thirteen 90-minute Cadfael mysteries, focusing on the exploits of a murder-solving monk in 12th century Shrewsbury. While sifting through the bodies of rebels recently executed on the orders of King Stephan (Michael Grandage), Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi stumbles across a corpse that doesn't belong there. With the help of his unofficial assistant, landowner/sheriff Hugh Beringer (Sean Pertwee), Cadfael assembles the necessary evidence to uncover a murderer. Adapted for television by Paul Pendar, "One Corpse Too Many" originally aired in Britain on May 29, 1994, and shortly thereafter was seen in America as part of PBS' Mystery anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Jacobi
With a story that seeks to continue the famous tale of Heidi, Courage Mountain focuses on the teenager (Juliette Caton), forced to leave her grandfather (Jan Rubes) to attend an Italian boarding school on the eve of World War I. The German army appropriates the school, and Heidi is forced to depend on her smarts until she can be reunited with her boyfriend Peter (Charlie Sheen). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Caton, Jan Rubes, (more)
- 1996
The title of this teen-oriented British series referred to the sun-drenched isle of Jersey. Here in this fertile patch of land, a group of healthy, hearty teens lived and worked together. Naturally a few romances developed, as did a smattering of petty jealousies and a soupçon of heartache. The even dozen 30-minute episodes of Island originally aired from 1996 to 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daisy Bates, Suzanne Maddock, (more)
Created by Russell Lewis, the four-episode British miniseries Monsignor Renard was set in the French town of St-Josse-des-Bois during the Nazi occupation of the 1940s. The title character, played by John Thaw of Inspector Morse fame, initially tried to keep himself above politics. Ultimately, however, Monsignor Renard became intimately involved with the French Resistance movement, rallying his fellow townsmen against their Nazi "hosts." Monsignor Renard was presented by Carlton Television from March 27 to April 17, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Thaw, Cheryl Campbell, (more)
- 2000
The feature debut of writer-director Piotr Szkopiak, Small Time Obsession is set in London's Polish community, where a group of friends engage, alternately, in relationships and petty crime. Michael (Alex King) works in his father's deli but would rather be at the greyhound track; Chris (Jason Merrells) is a mercurial small-time crook; Steve (Oliver Young) is a compassionate orphan with a passion for classic cars; and John (Richard Banks) is a would-be composer with a troubled domestic life. Prodded by Chris, the friends engage in minor robberies. When Chris is offered a job taking possession of stolen goods by a mid-level thief who is trying to find favor with a local gangster, tensions among Chris' circle reach a boiling point. To top it all off, Chris' on-the-rocks relationship with pregnant girlfriend Ali (Juliette Caton) is put under further strain when Michael confesses his love to Ali; Ali's best mate Jackie (Kirsten Parker), in turn, secretly adores Michael, leading to even more complications. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex King, Juliette Caton, (more)
Willem Dafoe plays Jesus Christ in this extraordinarily controversial adaptation of Nikos Kazantzaki's novel. The film depicts a sometimes reluctant, self-doubting Jesus, gradually coming to accept His divinity and the inexorability of His ultimate fate. The much-maligned sex scene with Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey) occurs as an hallucination experienced by Jesus as he suffers on the cross. This particular sequence was what infuriated the film's most rabid critics, but in fact it is just one of many iconoclastic musings to be found in the film and its source novel. Equally volatile are the intimations that, as a carpenter, Jesus indifferently shaped the crucifixes for other condemned prisoners long before his own fate was sealed, and that Judas (Harvey Keitel) was literally manipulated into betrayal by a Christ whose preoccuption with his own destiny compelled him to "use" others. None of these departures from the normal interpretation of the scriptures are offered as any more than theory; as such, it was accepted as food for thought by the more open-minded clerics and Biblical scholars who recommended the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 1995
This sprightly British drama speculates upon the origins of the anonymous painting, Two Nudes Bathing, which hangs in the Louvre. The painting depicts two beautiful, naked young women engaged in a tender act. The tale begins as a portrait painter makes his way to the home of the parsimonious Comte who wants his daughters painted au naturel without the usual frills and frippery. One of the women is preparing to marry. Comte wants to remember them as they are, pure, beautiful, and unsullied by the touch of a man. For years he has been obsessed with guarding their virginity, and even though he commissions the painter to depict them, the artist is not allowed to talk to, or make eye-contact with the lovelies. While they pose, the young women are guarded by a tongueless old woman. Still, these precautions do not prevent the curious maidens from asking the artist about sex at every opportunity. At first the artist hesitates, but soon he tells them what they want to know. Though the painter involves himself with a lusty servant girl, he cannot help but spy on the maidens while they bathe. The result is the notorious painting in which the nude girls are depicted with one of them daintily holding the nipple of the other. Naturally, the finished work causes quite a stir in Comte's prudish household. The American version has been edited down to 35 minutes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
